Are you a Grasshopper or a Giant Killer?

We all have problems. Problems do not pass anyone by. Norman Vincent Peale used to say that the only people to say the only people without problems are those in the cemetery. Major problems affect everyone. Problems loom over us like giants. We feel like grasshoppers when we stand next to the problems of our lives. This is how it was for 12 men who were called to do an important task. We find their story in the book of Numbers, chapter 13 and 14.

The Story of the 12 spies of Israel

You may recall, if not from the Bible, then from the movie that the people of Israel were freed from Egypt and Moses was to guide them to the Promised Land. Well, by Numbers 13, they had arrived near the land and God told Moses to send some spies into the land that He was giving to them. Then Moses commanded these 12 to go and spy out the land. They were to find out:

• What the land was like
• Whether the people of the land were strong or weak
• Whether the cities were like camps or strongholds, and
• Whether the land is rich or poor and whether there are forests.

So they went and spied out the land. They returned after 40 days. When they returned, they reported on the great fruit of the land and called it a land of “milk and honey” and yet they also reported that there were giants in the land and verse 33 says this:

“There we saw the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

Now, two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, were of a different mindset. They wanted to go and take possession of the land.

Two different mindsets. One that said “we are grasshoppers” and another that said, “we are giant killers!”

Over the next few posts I will talk about four issues the "grasshoppers" have